Why Are We So Hard on Hillary?
Why Are We So Hard on Hillary?
The 2016 presidential election one of the most blatant (and consequential) examples of the double standards applied in the evaluation of women and mena phenomenon that has been well-documented by social psychologists after decades of research.
Gage Skidmore> / Creative Commons
Women who try to take leadership roles are more subject to harsh judgements, disapproval and dislike than their male counterparts. Women who are viewed as ambitious, assertive and self-promoting make people uncomfortable in ways that ambitious, assertive, self-promoting men do not. That discomfort often plays out in negative judgements of and reactions to the woman in question. Those reactions have defined this election.
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Across all groups, observers hidden behind two-way mirrors noted that the nonverbal reactions directed toward female leaders and male leaders were different. Women trying to assert leadership received more frowns and fewer smiles and nods to their initiatives than men dideven though both women and men were using the very same leadership scripts. Furthermore, the more the would-be male leaders talked, the more positive reactions they received, but this was not true for female leaders. Group members rated female leaders as more bossy and dominating than male leaders exhibiting the same behaviors and male leaders as having more ability, skill and intelligence than female leaders making the very same scripted statements. All this despite the fact that group members disavowed any gender-based bias and were unaware that they were projecting negative reactions toward the female leaders.
Over the past two decades, a slew of studies by university researchers such as Madeline Heilman, Alice Eagly, Laurie Rudman and Peter Glick have shown that women are judged harshly when they are seen as self-promoting, as exerting assertive leadership or as succeeding in situations deemed masculine. In these studies, women described as independent, assertive, successful and oriented toward taking charge are labeled negatively by respondentshigh in interpersonal hostility, low in likeability, low in social skills and viewed as undesirable supervisors.
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Hillary Clintons popularity was at its highest when she was not running for office. Now that she has to convince Americans that she is eminently qualified to be President, she is fighting an uphill battle against our almost automaticand largely unacknowledgeddislike and suspicion of assertive, ambitious women. Her every failure to be completely transparent thus mushrooms into something that the public easily and uncritically interprets as a serious blot on her trustworthiness. Donald Trumps allegations about a rigged system notwithstanding, the real rigging lies in our well-learned biases about women and leadership.
http://msmagazine.com/blog/2016/09/07/why-are-we-so-hard-on-hillary/
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)Great post,must read for everyone.
Cicada
(4,533 posts)So press did not like these Arkansas interlopers. And their resentment came through. 1993 tax bill hiked top bracket from 31% to 36% over 51900 and to 39.6% for income over 250,000. That hits Cokie Roberts and Maureen Dowd and those at their cocktail parties. I bet the more working class McCllatchley reporters weren't so arch in their stories. The press resentment tainted views of folks.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)I like to think if she was just "Hillary Rodham", which means she was never married to a two-term president and the political world only knew her as a senator and SOS, Trump would be polling in single digits nationwide....
niyad
(113,344 posts)Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)struggle4progress
(118,295 posts)to work hard for years. As a result, she's extraordinarily well-informed and has an exceptional amount of experience. And she's not a natural politician -- unlike (say) her husband or our current President: her political success is a product of her extensive hard-won Rolodex and the fact that she can talk policy professionally with wonks
For this reason, she loses the touchy-feelie game: she doesn't instinctively project a simpatico persona; instead, her unflinching competence aggravates the anxieties of many people
Reagan, who was comfortably vague on details whenever he wasn't downright inaccurate, won his political fights by playing "affable avuncular Ronnie" and allowing his underlings a free hand to do the work, out of sight, behind the scenes. Bush II similarly hammed his class-clown incompetence, while recycling underlings from earlier Republican administrations, who knew how to work, out of sight, behind the scenes. Those two Presidents never excited anyone's insecurities: instead they bet their familiar demeanors could beat policy criticisms, by casting the critics as sour-grapes wannabees
Clinton can beat Trump -- but victory here is no foregone conclusion. Our task is convey, not just that Clinton is far more competent than Trump -- but also that she is far more likeable
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niyad
(113,344 posts)distrust the person who presents as ray-gun did, or the class moron as seen in chimpy. guess that makes me weird.
struggle4progress
(118,295 posts)Now the time, for preaching only to the choir, has passed: door-knocking season is upon us; and we must think about how to tell-it-to-the-street
niyad
(113,344 posts)BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)This is a keeper!
A friend called Hilary "shrewish"! I criticized his choice of words, explaining that's a gendered insult meaning basically, jack shizt. He didn't seem to get my point, but doubled down on his. And he's a liberal, for godsake
I may be about to lose another friend, but hell no I'm not gonna let mansplaining muck up my page!
niyad
(113,344 posts)fortunately, the men in my life are intelligent and progressive, and do not engage in "mansplaining". granted, it is a small group, but. . . .
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)In this case, he did bring out his more enlightened side, so I'm pleased with that.
On the other hand, I have another friend who used to be close...but I've been pretty shut down him because of some bad stubborness. He's a stubborn guy. And I'm a stubborn Babe In Total Control of Herself!
niyad
(113,344 posts)BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)No BS here!!!
Just Splanchnik.
Only Splanchnik!
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SPLANCH.NIC
/splaNGknik/
adjective
of or relating to the viscera or internal organs, especially those of the abdomen.